Effect of monomer hydrophilicity on <scp>ARGET–ATRP</scp> kinetics in aqueous mini‐emulsion polymerization

Activators regenerated by electron transfer (ARGET) atom radical polymerization (ATRP)-based aqueous miniemulsion where the takes place in stabilized monomer droplets is described. In this work, we compared styrene, n-butyl methacrylate (nBMA) and tert-butyl (tBMA) investigated influence of their hydrophobicity on dispersity, molecular weight particle stability based partition coefficients (logP) (2.67, 2.23, 1.86, respectively). Tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) was used as a phase agent for controlled delivery Cu2+-Br/tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine (TPMA), hydrophilic catalyst, into varying hydrophobicity. The resulting dispersity each polymer function its logP value, with most hydrophobic (styrene) displaying narrowest control (Đ < 1.3), poly(tert-butyl methacrylate) (PtBMA) having reduced emulsion stability, determined observation aggregate formation. Selected parameters, including effects total ascorbic acid feed concentration are reported. polymerizations monomers using ARGET-ATRP conditions understanding effect hydrophilicity will broaden use synthesis polymer-grafted nanoparticles corona.